Admiral Graf Spee Current Condition

[celticmarine10]

I'm sure there is money available for anything the politicians want to spend it on. The British budget deficit doesn't count for example when it comes to dropping some bombs and missiles on Libya......

Probably RF, they say one thing and do another. I remember not to long ago how the US wasn't going to get involved in Libya...

Thanks for the reply's everyone! Everything I need is moving along nicely!
Regards,
Celticmarine10

50 POSTS!!!!

[Rob Wood]

I'm sure there is money available for anything the politicians want to spend it on. The British budget deficit doesn't count for example when it comes to dropping some bombs and missiles on Libya......

Right. But they don't want to spend it on conserving or safeguarding warship wrecks. They don't even want to spend it on preserving historical warships that are still afloat. For example, here in the U.S., it looks like we're likely to lose the U.S.S. Olympia, as well as the U.S.S. Iowa. The U.S.S. Texas is in need of funds, as are most of the other museum ships here. That's why I say that somehow, these efforts, whether undersea archaeological preservation, conservation or artifact recovery, or preservation of museum ships, has to involve some measure of commercialism. If not, we're going to lose all of it, one ship at a time. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

Rob

[RF]

I agree with you Rob, but it comes down to spending priorities and what the political nomenklatura want.

Commercialism may be the only way to preserve these wrecks, what matters is how they are preserved.

[glugn]

I recall reading that the wreck has been dynamited to reduce its hazard to navigation. If that's true, what condition is the ship actually in?

Remember too that the magazines were blown up as part of the scuttling & pictures show the turrets bent/tilted as a result of the explosions. Such an explosion would also impact the hull structure. I suspect that the hull is severely damaged as well as the turret bases & support structure, leaving the stability of the ship in question should its current situation change due to pumping or excavating.

If raising the USS Techumseh from shallow water in Mobil Bay is expected to cost in excess of $80M, what would the cost be for a ship as badly damaged & as large as the Graf? While it would be great to see her restored as a museum ship, I doubt it's very likely to happen.

[RF]

While it would be great to see her restored as a museum ship, I doubt it's very likely to happen.

I don't really see any point in having the degraded hulk of AGS preserved as some sort of ''museum'' - why not leave the wreck in situ.

[glugn]

Agreed, if that's all they intend to do is raise the hull -- assuming they even can or can afford to. From the article about the project though it sounds like they want to raise & then reconstruct/restore the Graf. That would be great, but I think outrageously expensive & so very unlikely to happen unless someone knows a billionaire who is a naval history nut....

The one underwater picture of the wreck from the project website is from the port quarter of the bow. It doesn't show any major deformation of the hull in the area of the forward magazines that I can see, but the hull is in the mud up to or above the normal waterline. You can see the barrels of the forward 11" guns jutting out over the port side, but they appear to be resting on the deck itself. So it seems that even if the ship can be raised, the main turrets would have to be remounted, the entire superstructure & bridge tower would need to be reconstructed, & at least some of the smaller guns would have to be returned or replaced of course. Which is to say -- again -- that the possiblity of doing all that is highly unlikely.

[RF]

Perhaps on a less serious note, the Uruguayan government could impose a 72 hour time limit on doing the job.......